


A Silver Hand

by Bastard_Of_Bourland



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24501097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bastard_Of_Bourland/pseuds/Bastard_Of_Bourland
Summary: Taking place around 6 months before the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, A Nord by the name of Colam has his life thrown in a different direction than what he was anticipating when he encounters a monster of legend. Follow Colam's journey as he recounts the tales of his adventuring career and how he became one of the best adventurers Skyrim has too offer!This is my first actual story that I'm putting out there, so I'd appreciate it if you all didn't completely butcher me. Constructive Criticism is always welcome however. If you all would like to see more just say so, this was just a little thing to waste my time during Quarantine and the riots if you want more just say and i'll get to work. If this does become a work in progress the amount of chapters will probably change from 10 it might go higher or lower but its just a base line for now.
Kudos: 1





	A Silver Hand

Well . . . where do I begin? It feels like so long ago that I went through this; I might as well start at the beginning but first, a little context. My name is Colam Julan, I was born in the 179th year of the 4th era in Rorikstead, a village in the hold of Whiterun. I had never been much of a fighter, I was a merchant by trade and knew just enough of combat to defend myself if a thief tried to stick me up on the road but I wasn’t a fool; If bandits tried to get toll off of me, I knew it was a better idea to use my words to get me out of a pinch; I lived by the adage “You can pay toll as many times as you need to, but you can only die once.” Now as much as I would like to get into my early life and go on about the “good old days” you aren't here for that, you’re here for my story and the interesting parts of it; and maybe most importantly what I know about the elusive “dragonborn”, well I’ll tell you but first we need to go back to where I got wrapped up into this adventuring business. Now this story begins about 5 years ago, around 6 months before the dragons showed up and summarily wreaked havoc across Skyrim. I was Around 22 winters old at this time, I was young and in my prime, I was also a little foolish for my age however it wasn’t anything that had gotten me into too much trouble. . . yet. I had just started to let my beard grow in, it would be a while until it turns into the brown bush of hair that sits upon my face, I remember vividly that night; the warmth of the fire heating up my face and a few of my traveling companions that I had been with for a week's up until that point were gathered around the fire as well as they had just got done setting up their tents.   


“Hey Colam! You look like you are about to kiss that fire, mind telling me what's on your mind?” A voice inquired. 

That was Reman, an imperial who had been traveling with us after we picked him up in Falkreath, we had just left Falkreath and where on our way to the town of Riverwood, a small village up on the road to Helgen, an imperial fortress; Riverwood on its own wasn’t too remarkable, however the path that led up into the mountains near it supposedly lead up to an old Nord barrow. People wouldn’t go anywhere near barrows on account of the drauger that stalk the halls, most of my travelling buddies didn’t believe in such things; I told them that they’d feel thickskulled when they were staring one down. 

“What? Oh, sorry. Nothing is on my mind I was just dreaming off” I responded 

“Ahh I see, well hopefully you can stop dreaming off enough to keep watch tonight, it's your turn for first shift.” Reman joked 

“Right, don’t worry about me. You all can sleep safely” 

“last time you said that I found a skeever sniffing down my sleeping bag!” A hissing voice chipped in 

Now that would have been Sal’ia, a Khajiit with a light brown coat of fur that I had met from one of the caravans, she decided to travel along with me after I had defended her case against someone who accused her of pick-pocketing. I had seen the actual culprit and notified the man and the guards, what became of that situation I don’t know as I didn’t stick around to see if the criminal was caught. Now she traveled with us because she had nowhere to go and had admitted that she enjoyed the company. 

The next person I need to mention because he rarely spoke, and when he did his words were usually a simple “yes” or “no”. This was Grilmar, a big brute of an orc who acted as our main bodyguard, he was helpful in his own right and earned his pay, so I didn’t exactly have a problem with him. but neither of us were very friendly to each other either. He was able to scare away most bandits or thieves, he wielded a large steel two handed ax that was built with practicality in mind. He also wore Full iron armor with a leather aketon underneath, what was interesting was that his armor and weapon choice were of Nordic make and style, his iron lamellar vest and spectacle helm made that painfully obvious. I had never gotten the courage to ask him about it as at the point I had expected that the answer was a bit more grim than I had wished. 

Nighttime had drawn over the sky, a shroud of stars and the moon had covered the heavens. Everyone at that point had went to sleep, if I were to see anything, I was to wake up Grilmar and then the others. I remember hearing the howl of a wolf, nothing spectacular I thought, we were out in the woods and wolves live in the woods I thought nothing of it; I should have taken it as foreshadowing, I should have taken it as an omen but I did not I was foolish but I couldn’t have known. I couldn’t have known what was stalking us that night. 

I remember it vividly, the crackling of the campfire and the smalls pops and snaps of the wood burning and giving way to the flame; I was dosing off for a moment when I heard it, an audible _snap_ of a branch, much louder than anything from the fire. I awoke Grilmar and told him of the noise, he woke up and took his ax and stood up and readied himself. I awoke the other two although they were harder to stir into consciousness, I drew my weapon whilst they grabbed essentials and prepared to run as fast as they could if need be. It was nothing but silence for minutes on end, tense unyielding silence that stuffed our ears. I grabbed the small amulet of Talos that I kept under the collar of my coat. After a few more minutes of tense silence, I finally lowered my guard and drew a deep cold breath. Grilmar didn’t let up, he knew something was out there, and he was proven right mere moments after I let down my stance. A massive hulking creature burst into the camp, into slammed into Grilmar knocking him on his back. I swung before I thought, I managed to nick the damn thing’s arm before, drawing but a drop of blood before the wound of it closed right before my eyes; It’s flesh and skin wove itself back together like how an expert weaver knits a quilt, veins and strands of viscera tying themselves back together. It stood for a moment and I got a glimpse at it, I didn’t know then but what I was staring at was a creature of legend; An ancient curse that turned men into beasts-man hybrids, I was face to face with a werewolf. 

My body froze, I was paralyzed with fear when I gazed into its eyes; Those eyes bore the signs of rage, unyielding rage and hunger. It roared at me so loud it nearly popped my ear drums and charged, a wild swing slammed into me, scratching my chest nearly open with deep red ichor being sent onto the fire and causing a sizzling as the blood was vaporized by the fire; The power of the hit sent me in the air and I slammed into a tent crushing it as my weight fell upon it. The creature took no hesitation in trying to capitalize on my incapacitation, it lunged at me and would've ended my life if not Grilmar recovered fast enough to swing his ax at the creature mid lunge. The Weight of the ax slammed into the beast causing a brutal wound that sent blood scattering over the campsite, it knocked the were-beast onto the fire where it yelped and growled in pain as its pelt was set ablaze. The wound that Grilmar dealt to the creature was already suturing it self up.

"Run!" Grilmar exclaimed whilst he stood between the creature and me.  
  
Sal'ia quickly ran over to me and helped me on my feet. The creature tried to move past Grilmar to secure a meal for itself, as it pushed him aside in a quick instinct I shoved my steel sword into the coals of the flame and launched some of the ash and embers into the beasts eyes; This helped my escape as the creature recoiled instinctively to protect its eyes, Grilmar took the opportunity to slam his ax into the creatures arm. Helped by Sal'ia we ran off into the woods, with Reman not far ahead but I heard the yells of Grilmar as he did battle with the creature; I eventually heard the creature roar in victorious gloating of his kill, but I knew that it would be after us soon. We continued to run, but the Beast wasn't far behind us I could hear it huffing and panting as it ran towards us; We found ourselves at a clearing of trees when it struck. I was looking behind us when I heard it, the blood curdling yell of horror ahead of us; Reman, he was being shredded, gore and viscera where sent flying it ripped off his own arms as I heard the grueling snap of bones and horrible squelch of flesh being rended from it's owner. I wasn't adverse to death, it was the natural cycle of life but this was beyond the realm of nature it was cruel how long he was screaming for. We tried to circle around the beast as it feasted on Reman's corpse, Sal'ia gasped at the sight of it and nearly bent over in sickness; I have to confess, I too was weak at the knees and nearly did the same. As we went past it we ran further into the woods, trying to find the road but it was too dark too see anything for more then mere feet ahead of us. After minutes upon minutes of running we finally sat to rest, I had to lay with my back on a tree for I was bleeding heavily. Sal'ia tried to nurse my wounds, taking bits of my clothes to try and make makeshift bandages; it had worked for now but i wouldn't be able to recover fully with just bandages. I felt my head grow heavy and my eyes dreary, Blood was slightly staunched by the bandages, I needed rest; Something that the beast wouldn't let me have. Whilst tending to my wounds Sal'ia heard a sound, something that made her show fear; Her ears Folded down and she looked behind herself to find the beast approaching. She stood up, looked back at me and said:

"Sal'ia is sorry" With a tone full of sorrow

She promptly ran away into the woods, I don't blame her. It's what I would have done given the circumstances. But now I was heavily wounded and getting dreary I couldn't stand up. It lowered its gaze to meet mine, and put its growling fang ridden snout up towards my face. I promptly Spat in its face with a mixture of saliva and blood that coated my mouth. It licked the ooze of its face before getting ready to sink its teeth into my neck, I prayed one last time to Talos; In hopes I would go to Sovangarde for my last bout of defiance. As I closed my eyes and prepared for death I slipped into unconsciousness.


End file.
